RECONSTRUCTION: LIBERTY THE CORNER-STONE, 
AND LINCOLN THE ARCHITECT. 



E 668 
•fl752 

Copy 1 



SPEECH 



HON. ISAAC Nf ARNOLD, 



OF ILLINOIS 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



MARCH 19, 1864r. 



!-• -«-*»•►- 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY LEMUEL T W E R 8 . 
1 864. 



RECONSTRUCTION: LIBERTY THE CORNER-STONE, 
AND LINCOLN TIIE ARCHITECT. 



SFEECH 



HON. ISAAC N. ARNOLD, 



OF illi:nois. 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPKESENTATIVES, 



MAUCH 19, 1864.. 



SECOND EDITION. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY L. TOWERS & CO. 
1864. 



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PiECONSTRUCTION: LIBERTY THE CORNER-STONE, 
AND LINCOLN THE ARCHITECT. 



SPEEGH 



HON. ISAAC N. ARNOLD, 



OF ILLINOIS. 



DELIVERED IX THE HOUSE OF REPRE3ENSATIVE3, MARCH 19, 1864. 



Oq the 22d of February, 18^2, the one hundredth anniversary of the birth- 
day of Washington, Daniel Webster speaking of the fearful consequences of 
disunion, says : 

" Other misfortunes may be borne, or tbeir effects overcome. If disastrous war should 
sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may renew it; if it desolate and 
lay waste our fields, still, under a new cultivarion, they will grow green again, and ripen 
to future harvests. It were but a trifle even if the walls of yonder Capitol were to 
crumble, if its lofty pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be ail covered by the 
dust of the valley. All these might be rebuilt But who shall reconstruct the fabric oj 
demolished government? Who shall rear again the well proportioned columns of consti- 
tutional liberty ? Who shall frame together the skilful architecture which unites national 
sovereignty with state rights, individual security and public prosperity? No, if these 
columns fall, they will be raised not again. Like the Coliseum and the Parthenon they 
will be destined to a mournful, a melancholy immortality. Bitterer tears, however, will 
flow over them than were ever shed over th? monuments of Roman or Grecian art ; for 
they will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Rome ever saw, the 
edifice of constitutional American liberttj." 

But I have faith that under the guidance of Providence, and on the basis 
of liberty, this Government is to ho^'' reconstructed^ The_ "skillful architect- 
ure which unites State rights and national sovereignty, individual security and 
public prosperity," is to be again embodied in a still more peifect form ; notoa, 
the basis of adhering to old errors, "the Union as it was, and the Constitution 
as it is," but national unity without slavery, and the Constitution, the Magna 
Charta which shall secure liberty to all. 

This is our grand aim. The wandering stars are to be brought back with 
their lustre brightened by the ordeal through which they have passed. The 
grand edifice of American constitutional government is to rise on a broader, 
firmer, more solid foundation, the basis of universal liberty. 

Sir, the old Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention are ven- 
erable landmarks in American history. We look back to them with mingled 
reverence and admiration. 



The Congress and the statesmen v?ho sliall re-establish national unity, with 
the terrible scourge, slavery, destroyed, who shall heal the wounds of this ter- 
rible war, will have rendered a service to our country and humanity equally 
memorable and still more important. 

RECONSTRUCTION. 

I approach this question of reconstruction with diffidence, conscious alike of 
its diffieuUies and of the fearful responsibilities resting upon those by whom it is 
to be solved. One thing, I think, may be regarded as settled. We can have 
no national union and harmony without freedom. The fearful error of uniting 
free aud slave States we shall never repeat. But if the grand idea can be 
realized of a free, homogeneous people, united in a continental republic based 
on liberty to all, and retaining the great principles of Magna Charta as living 
piinciples of our Government, we shall see realized the noblest structure of 
government and national polity ever oiganized upon earth. This is a great aim 
to struggle for; it is a glorious ijurpose to die for. Is it practicable? Are we 
equal to it? If so, the terrible ordeal through which we are passing, the trial 
by fire, and the bnptism of blood, will be compensated by the gloiiuus future. 

lu discussing this subject of reconstruction, I will only venture to-day to 
make suggestions. The subject naturally divides itself into three parts: 

1. What arc the relations of the rebel States to the national Governmelit? 

2. Wlcat the duty of the Executive? 

3. What the duty of Congress? 

The status of the rebellious States is, that they are a portion of our country 
in revolt. The Constitution and laws of the United States are legally binding 
upon every person within the rebel tenitory. 

Every person who has violated his duty to the Government, or broken its 
laws aud levied war upon it, is liable to be dealt with as a criminal and a traitor. 

The people in rebellion who have made war upon the nation are also in the 
position of public enemies, and liable to be treated as such. The Government 
may proceed against them, both as rebels, amenable to our laws, or as public 
enemies, subject to all the liabilities of su(;h. So much of this rebel territory 
as we have brought by our arms within our lines, is rightfully held under 
military government; and it is subject, for the time being, to the government 
of the Executive, as Commander-in-Chief, until loyal States are reorganized, 
or until Congress provides by law for some othtr mode of government. 

DUTY OF THE EXECUTIVE, 

It is the duty of the Executive to see that the laws are faithfully executed 
In every part of the United States. It is his duty by the sword and by the 
power of war to dtstioy all armed oppc sition to the Government. Everything 
necessary to accomplish this, and iu accoi dance with the rules of war as recog- 
nized by civilized nations, he may liglitfully do. He may emancipate and arm 
slaves, arre.-jt and confine dangerous public enemies, to prevent the execution of 
treasonable designs; and suppress for the time treasonable publications; all 
this to be done under the rules of war and the legitimate powers vested in the 
Executive of carrying on war against public enemies aiid traitors. Ii is bis 
duty also to see that the constitutional guarantee of a republican form of gov- 
ernment under the Federal Union shall be carried out. In the absence of the 
action of Congress, he mav do all that it may be necessary to carry out these 



purposes. He may appoint military governors. He may levy and collect taxes 
and assessments. He may institute temporary tribunals to administer justice. 
He may preserve tLe peace, prevent aoarcliy, and see that justice is done to all. 
In a word, he may and mu&l ffovern the country ia its transition state from a 
rebel to a loyal condition, or until Congress provides by law for its government, 
or until the people organize loyal State governments and are re-admitted into 
the Union. These principles are sanctioned by the Supreme Court in the Cal- 
ifornia case, so often cited in this House. 

These powers or most of them the President has exercised in Louisana, in 
Arkansas, and in Tennefsec. He has done this under the advice and with the 
aid of such men as Andrew Johnson, Generals Butler and Banks; and the re- 
sults are beginning to develope themselves ia the disposition of the people of 
these States to return to the Union. 



WHAT ARE THE POWERS OF CONGRESS 



Congress may and ought to pass all laws which may be necessary to carry 
into efiect the power lodged in the Executive to administer for the time being 
the government of the territory in rebellion. Congress may regulate the mode 
of administration. It may control the method of governing the territory. 
Each House of Congress has the exclusive ^^Oifcr to determine and judge of the 
election, return, and qualifications of its own members, and may of course de- 
termine when to admit or reject representatives from the rebel States. I think 
it requires the concurrent action of both the Executive and Congress for a com- 
plete restoration of rebel and revolted States into the Union. 

THE AMNSSTr PROCLAMATION. 

The President, in communicating the amnesty proclamation to Congress, in- 
vites the aid, counsel, and co-operation of Congress in restoring national unity. 
This proclamation of amnesty looks to the re-establishment of loyal State gov- 
ernments in the rebel territory on the basis of freedom. It offers peace on the 
surrender by the rebels of the cause of the war — slavenj. Practically it is already 
dissolving the rebel organization. Huudieds of rebel soldiers arc daily bring- 
ing in and laying down their arms and accepting the terms of pardon. The 
advantages of this proclamation are — 

1. It gives a rallying point for loya! men in the rebel States. 

2. It secures forever liberty to the emancipated slave. 

3. It will enable the United States to guarantee to every rebel Stat,e a repub- 
lican form of government. 

4. It will secure national unity on the basis of liberty. 

RECONSTRUCTION. 

The questions involved in the subject of reconstruction are of the most gravo 
and impoitant character. Broken unions are ever hard to restore. We may 
crush the military power of the rebels, and yet the southern people may, pos- 
sibly, sullenly refuse to return and participate in the Government. It is desira- 
ble that wham the Union is restored it may unite 3. fraternal people. Wc do 
not desire the cotton States to occupy the relation to the national Government 
of a struggling Poland, or Hungary, or Venice. The only basis on which real 
cordial union can be predicated is that of liberty. We must remove the cause 
of our divisions- Remove slavery, and the old American idea of Union and 



6 

love of country will resume their sway. Yankee Doodle and the Star-Span^led 
Banner will again thrill the hearts of all Dixie-land. The old flag, God bless 
it forever, will be worshipped with an ardor and devotion unknown before the 
war. 

If you cannot have a Union based upon freedom, you cannot have it at all. 
This the President with his usual sagacity has seen, and he oflers amnesty and 
liberty. My firm conviction is, that upon this basis alone is union attainable. 
This furnishes the only hope ; but wiih freedom, when the sword has subjufjated 
srmed resistance, we may weld together the links of this broken chain. From 
the beginning of the revolt, the Government has oft'ered to the rebels peace and 
good will, and upon the sole condition that they should lay down their arms. 
This offer has been met with scorn and defiance. The President now offers 
peace upon the condition that the insurgents submit and give up slavery. They 
are asked to abandon that which has been a curse alike to them, to us, to all. 
Humanity and Christianity pray that these humane, generous, magnanimous 
terms may be accepted. This cruel war will not stop; this rebellion will never be 
sanctioned as revolution. The loyal people of the United States, if these terms 
are rejected, will demand that the diseased limb be amputated. They have 
been very slow to auger, but they are now thoroughly aroused, and it will soon 
be difficult to appease their just rage. 

The loyal people preferred peace to war, but they are rapidly acquiring a 
taste for war's fierce excitements and its dazzling glory. They are an indomit- 
able race of men, the descendants of those who conquered England, Ireland 
and Scotland, and who have themselves never been conquered. On this conti- 
nent they have conquered the forests, subdued the Indian tribes, and wrested 
from England their independence. If driven to it, they will exterminate the 
soft, pampered, sensual, slave aristocracy, which makes up the rebel leaders. 
The time is rapidly approaching when the loyal people will say to the rebels, 
"We have tried to conciliate you; we have offered you terms; you reject 
them with scorn ; y«iu hate and defy us ; you refuse any terms of peace. Be 
it so. We accept the issue. We will treat you as enemies ; we will conquer 
you, and liberating your slaves we will divide your lands among them, the 
poor whites and our brave soldieis. Henceforth you are subjects, no longer to 
be treated as citizens." 

The President does not yet say this ; on the contrary, his treatment is to- 
day as it has been from the beginning, generous, humane and magnanimous, 
such as is becoming the head of a great and Christian nation. He offers peace 
on the conditions that the rebels submit, give up slavery, and accept freedom. 
He ofters the blessings of peace and prosperity, only requiring the surrender 
of that terrible curse, which lias brought upon us and them all the horrors of 
this war. 

IS SLAVERY DEAD ? 

The distinguished gentleman from New York, [Mr. Brooks,] produced a 
great sensation the other day by announcing that slavery was already dead. 
I do not know whether we were so much staitled by the fact, as that that gentle- 
man should be the first to announce it. Like some others who lag far behind 
ia the chase, he seemed determined to be in at the death. But I am not yet 
willing to admit the fact that shivery is dead. I rejoice to know that it is iu 
a dyiiiG: condition, but it has not yet given up the ghost. Let the '^liail-Sj^Utter^^ 
of Illinois give the cursed monster a few more vigorous blows, and make its 
destruction certain. Possibly the gentleman from New York might have been 
playing a game familiar to western hunters; ho, or the institution which he 
declares dead might have been playing j)ossum. But to assume a tone more 



becoming a subject so grave, let me remind the gentleman from New York, 
who is a scholar, and familiar with history, that in the days of Oliver Crom- 
well it was supposed monarchy was dead in England. Yet but a few years 
passed by, and Charles the Second was on the throne of England, and monar- 
chy in full sway, stronger apparently than before the execution of Charles the 
First. God save our country from the return of the slave kings. God save ua 
from ever seeing the destinies of this nation pass again into the hands of slave 
mongers. Therefore I am for taking security for the future by immediately 
abolishing slavery^ and amending the Constitution, 2^rohibiting its existence for- 
ever in every fart of the Union. But if slavery is indeed dead, why do not 
its friends, those who have stood by it, in sunshine and in storm, why do they 
not now pronounce its eulogy ? It was a king in the land. It was a ruler in 
these halls, and lord paramount in yonder Executive Mansion. If dead, where 
are its friends and mourners? If your idol is dead, ia it not decent for you 
at least to seem to mourn ? 

But Mr. Chairman, this great revolution is not yet ended. Would to God 
it were. The storm still rages ; dangers and difficulties still overshadow the 
future. Much remains to be done, to subdue rebel armies, to maintain national 
credit, to hold the loyal people united, to preserve liberty and law, and recon- 
struct the edifice of constitutional liberty. A task is before us, taxing to the 
utmost, all we have of skill and bravery in the field ; of wisdom and integrity 
and patriotism and statesmanship in the cabinet, before we can feel that our 
ceuntry '■'■has iveathered the storing'' and " a/^ is wellJ^ Onr greatest danger 
arises from insane divisions among ourselves. With Lincoln at the helm Oi 
State, with Grant commanding our armies, and Chase, holding the scarcely 
less difficult and responsible position at the head of the Treasury, and a cor 
dial union of the friends of these great leaders and all loyal men, our success 
is certain. 

THE PRESIDENCY. 

The constitutional period for the election of a President approaches aad 
compels an answer to the question, who shall lead us through this fearful 
storm to the haven of peace ? Shall we change leaders while the tempest of 
battle is raging ? No, say the people, with that instinctive sagacity which has 
all along characterized them. They have ali'eady settled this question, with a 
unanimity never equalled since the days of Madison and Washington. From 
Maine to Maryland, from Minnesota to California, from ocean to ocean, from 
north to south, there is but one voice. It is emphatic, earnest, spontaneous, 
unprompted ; having its origin in the faith which the people everywhere fee/ 
in the honesty, justice, truth, courage, patriotism and gjod sense of the Presi 
dent. The '■'■secret circulars,'''' organizations, and efi"orts of politicians, to divert 
or change it, will be idle and useless. This choice of the people will be ratified 
at the ballot-box by a vote never before surpassed in unanimity. Why is this? 
It is because the people recognize in Abraham Lincoln the apostle of liberty. 

LINCOLN THE APOSTLE OF LIBERTV. 

It is his mission to restore national unity, on the basis of universal liberty. 
He is to lead the people through this revolution and preserve the old safeguard 
of freedom embodied in Magna Charta and the Constitution of the United 
States. When he leaves the Presidential chair, in 18fi9, we are to be one peo- 
ple, one nation, and every man secured in the enjoyment of " life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness." Every man equal before the law. Every man en- 



8 

joying liberty of speech, the freedom of the j^ress, trial by jury, and the writ 
of Habeas Corpus. 

Such is the grand ideal which he is laboring practically to realize. To ac- 
complish this, he needs the continued confidence, trust, and faith of the Amer- 
ican people. With these, by the blessing of Almighty God, those great pur- 
poses may be realized. 

Mr. Chairman, studied and persistent efforts having been made in this Hall, 
in the Senate, and elsewhere, to disparage the President, I deem it a duty, and 
it is a privilege, to present briefly, and as clearly, candidly, and truthfully as I 
am able, the reasons why the President should continue to enjoy that tiust and 
confidence which has hitherto enabled him to accomplish so much, to advance 
so far, in these great purposes, and to show why all the friends of national 
unity, and those who idolize liberty, should hs.ve faith in the President. 

The public life of Mr. Lincoln may be said to have commenced in June, 185G,. 
when he made the memorable speech at Springfield, announcing, in words that 
arrested the attention of the nation, the antagonism between liberty and slavery. 
From that hour he became the apostle of freedom. From that day his life has 
been consecrated to one great purpose, that of freeing Ms country from Afri- 
can slavery. There is not in all history a more striking exhibition of the won- 
derful, almost miraculous influence of a great truth, uttered at the right moment, 
than this. It has been, as I have said, publicly announced on the floor of Con- 
gress, that slavery is dead. If so, Abraham Lincoln, with the sling and stone 
of truth, has slain the monster. 

I said that Mr. Lincoln's public life commenced with his memorable speech 
at Springfield, June, 1856. 

HIS TRAINING. 

Let US see what had been his previous training for his great work. It was 
not the training of the schools ; it was better. It was a struggle with difl3cul- 
ties among the people. He had the foundation of perfect integrity, truth, can- 
dor, sobriety, self-control, self-reliance, modesty. With clear judgment, sound 
common sense, shrewd knowledge of human nature, he is the most American of 
Americans. He had served a single term in Congress, but his education, his 
preparation was among the people, in humble and homely positions; a flat- 
boatman, a rail-splitter, a surveyor, a member of the legislature in a frontier 
State, a lawyer, in the log courthouses of the west. While he had no univer- 
sity schooling, few, if any, have had a better training to develope and strengthen 
his intellectual powers than he. This may seem strange, but let me explain, 
and its truth will, I think, be conceded. 

He was trained at the bar in a school where giants were his competitors, and 
he bore off the crown. 

WHO WERE HIS COMPETITORS? 

Some twenty years ago, there gathered around the plain, pine tables of the 
frontier court-houses of central Illinois a very remarkable combination of men. 
Among them, and concededly their leader, was Abraham Lincoln ; Stephen A. 
Douglas, his greai political rival ; Lyman Trumbull, chairman of the judiciary 
committee of the Senate ; E. D. Baker, the able, the eloquent senator, soldier, 
and martyr to liberty ; Gen. James Shields, who won a high reputation at 
Washington, and on tlie battlefields of Mexico; Gen. John J. Hardin, an able 
and clo(jiifnt lawyer, who fell on the bloody field of ]>uena Vista; James A. 
McDougal, the pieseut Senator from California ; William A. liichardsou, present 



9 

Senator from Illinois, and Gen. John A. McClernand, now in the field. Besides 
these was the late Gov. Bissell, whose manly vindication of the bravery of the 
Illinois volunteers in Mexico, agafnst the aspersions of Jefferson Davis", will be 
well remembered ; a vindication which resulted in a challenge from the traitor 
Davis, which was accepted by Bissell, but from which Davis backed down, it 
is said under the advice of Gen. Taylor. These men, of nation;d reputation, 
and others equally able, but whose pursuits have been confined at home, were 
the competitors with Lincoln. These were the men in contest with whom 
Abraham Lincoln was trained for the terrible ordeal through which he is 
passing. 

CONTEST BETWEEN LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS. 

The contest between Lincoln and Douglas, in 1858, was the most remarkable 
in American history. They were the acknowledged leaders, each of his paity. 
Both, men of great and marked individuality of character. The prize was the 
Senatorship of the gretat State of Illinois, and the success of the Republican or 
Democratic party. Douglas had the additional stimulant of the Presidency in 
view. These two trained leaders met, at designated places, and in the presence 
of immense crowds of people, debated the great questions at issue. 

Douglas went through this campaign like a conquering hero. He had liis 
special train of cars, his baud of music, his body guard of devoled fiiend?*, a 
cannon carried on the train, the firing from which announced bis approach to 
the place of meeting. Such a canvass involved, necessarily, very large expend- 
itures, and it has been said that Douglass did not expend less than §50,000 in 
this canvass. Some idea of the plain, simple, frugal habits of Mr. Lincoln 
may be gathered, when I tell you that at its close, having occupied several 
rrwonths, Mr. Lincoln said, with the idea, apparently, that he had been somewhat 
extravagant, "I do not believe I have spent a cent less than five hundred dollars 
in this canvass." 

Senator Douglas was at that time the leading debater in the United States 
Senate. He had been accustomed to meet for years in Congress the trained 
leaders of the nation, and never, either in single combat, or taking tire fire of a 
whole paity, had he been discomfited. He was bold, defiant, confident, aggres- 
sive ; fertile in resources, terrible in denunciation, familiar with political history, 
practiced in all controversial discussion, of indomitable physical and moral 
courage, and unquestionably the most formidable man in the nation on the 
stump. The friends of Mr. Lincoln were not without misgivings when the 
challenge was given and accepted for a campaign with Douglas, on the stump. 
Mr. Lincoln was cool, candid, truthful, logical, never betrayed into an unfair 
statement; and it was wonderful how, in these discussions, as in every other act 
of his public life, he has impressed the people with his honesty and fairness. 
Every hearer of these debates went away with the conviction, whatever his 
political views, " Lincoln believes what he says, he is candid, and he would not 
misstate a fact, or take an unfair advantage to secure a triumph." He had one 
advantage over Douglas. He was always good-humored. He had always 
his apt story for illustration, and while Douglas was sometimes irritable, and 
would lose his temper, Lincoln never lost his. 

Douglas carried away the most popular applause, but Lincoln ma^le the 
deeper and more lasting impression. Douglas did not disdain an immediate 
triumph, while Lincoln looked to permanent conviction. Douglas addressed 
the feelings and prejudices with a power and adroitness never surpassed. Lin- 
coln stated his propositions and proved thyir truth with irresistible logic. 
Douglas carried the majority of the legislature of Illinois, but Lincoln had the 



10 

majonty „ ca * popular rote. Douglas secured tbe Senatorship, and Lincoln 
gained the Presidency. The wonderful endurance of these men, both of iron 
constitutions, was strikingly manifest during this contest. But at its close, 
Douglas could not articulate clearly for some weeks, while Lincoln's voice was 
clearer, stronger, and he himself was in better health at the end than he was 
at the beginning of the contest. 

The friends of each of these great leaders claimed the victory. All must 
admit, that each met in his antagonist a foeraan worthy of his steel. 

The nomination of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, came to him unsought 
and unsolicited. The great leaders of national parties struggled by their pow- 
erful friends and organizations for the nomination at Chicago. Mr. Lincoln 
remained quietly at his home in Springfield, pursuing the usual course of his 
quiet, simple life, and the Presidency sought him, he did not go after nor seek 
it. Many have seen in the manner in which he was called to the Executive 
Mansion the finger of Providence. 

LINCOLN LEAVING HOME FOR WASHINGTON. 

I need not recall the dark and threatening aspect of affairs in the winter of 
1860-'61. A long planned, deep-laid conspiracy, about to break upon tlie 
land, with all the horrors of civil war. Patriots saw the tornado coming, saw 
the traitors plotting and planning the destruction of the government, disarming, 
plundering it, binding it, preparing it to fall an easy victim into the hands of 
traitors, and yet had no means to resist, because all its machinery was in the 
hands of traitors. How impatiently and fearfully they waited for the 4th of 
March all will remember. The President elect felt the oppressive weight of 
responsibility resting upon him. There is not a more simple, touching and 
beautiful speech in the English language than that which he uttered to his 
neighbors from the platform of the Kail-Car, on bidding good-bye to his home, 
to enter upon the duties of the Presidency. 

"For more than twenty-five years I have lived among yon, and during all that 
time I have received nothing but kindness at your hands. Here the most cherished ties 
of earth were assumed. Ilere my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. 

"To you, my friends, I owe all that I have, all that I am. All the strange checkered 
past seems to crowd now upon my mind. To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task 
more difficult than that which devolved upon General Washington. Unless the great 
God who assisted him shall be with and aid me, I cannot prevail ; but if the same 
Omniscient mind, and the same Almighty arm that directed and protected him shall 
guide and support me, I shall not fail ; I shall succeed. Let us pray that the God of our 
fathers maj' not forsake us now. To him I commend you all. Permit me to ask that, 
with equal sincerity and faith, you will all invoke his wisdom and guidance for me." 

The feeling of the people was impressively exhibited by the mottoes on the 
banners which they extended across the streets through which he passed on his 
way to the Capitol. " We ivill praij for yoiC was often the significant motto. 

Lincoln's inauguration. 

No so impressive an inauguration as that of Mr. Lincoln has occurred since 
the inauguration of Washington. He had been threatened with assassination, 
and the rebels had intended his murder as he passed through Baltimore. On 
bis arrival here he found the public ofhces filled with traitors. Strange as it 
may seem, the rebel generals Lee, and Joe and Albert Johnson, and Ewell and 
Ilill, Stewart and Magruder, Pemberton and Winder, held in March and 
April, 18G1, leading positions in our Army. Traitors were everywhere. 



11 

The citizens of Wasbiugton were, a large portion of tbem, in sympathy with 
the rebels. Secession had been preceded by secret conspiracy, concocted 
by those holdiug tlie highest official trusts. It had been veiled by perjured 
professions of loyalty. On Mr. Lincoln's arrival here these were the men he 
found in all the public offices, and he was encircled on every side by spies and 
traitors. None who witnessed it will ever forget the scene of that inauguration. 
Standing on the earteru front of the Capitol, the judges of the Supreme Court, 
the Senate and House of Representatives, the high officers of the array and 
navy around him, a mingled crowd of traitors and patriots, with many an eye 
looking searchingly into his neighbor's to learn whether he gazed upon a traitor 
or a friend; standing there amidst scowling enemies with murder and treason 
in their hearts, Lincoln was cool and determined. He read his inaugural with 
a voice clear and distinct enough to be heard by twice ten thousand people. 
When with reverent look he swore by the Eternal God that he would faithfully 
^^ 2))-'e.serve, 2>rotcct, and defend^'' the Constitution, his great rival ])uuglas stood, 
not by accident^ at his side. Douglas knew, perhaps, better than the President 
himself, the dangers and difficulties which surrounded him. He was observed 
to whisper in the ear of Mr. Lincoln, and I believe gave to the President the 
assuiance that in the dark and difficult future he would stand by him and give 
him his utmost aid in upholding the Constitution and crushing treason and re- 
bellion. Nobly did Douglas redeem that ])Iedge. After the rebel attack on 
Sumter, he boldly made the well known declaiation that there could now be 
but two parties, patriots and traitors. Had he lived he would have sustained 
the President with all the vigor and energy peculiar to his character. 

REMARKABLE PREDICTION OF DOUGLAS IN JANUARV, 18G1. 

Here I will pause a moment to state a most remarkable prediction made by 
Douglas in January, 18G1. The statement is furnished to me by General 
C. B. Stewart, of New York, a gentleman of the highest respectability. 

Duuglas v/as asked by Colonel Slevvart, (who was making a New Year's call 
on Mr. Douglas,) "What will be the result of the eft'orts of Jefferson Davis and 
his associates to divide the Union?" Douglas replied, "The cotton States are 
making an effort to draw in the border States to their schemes of secession, and 
I am too fearful they will succeed. If they do succeed, there will be the most 
terrible civil war the world has ever seen, lasting for years. Virginia will be- 
come a charnel house; but the end will be the triumph of the Union cause. 
One of their first efforts will be to take possession of this capital to give them 
2)restige -(CoTOSiA, but they wall never succeed in taking it; the North will rise 
en mass to defend it; but it will become a city of hospitals; the churches will 
be used for the sick and wounded ; and even this house and the Minnesota 
block (now the Douglas Hospital) may be devoted to that purpose before the 
end of the war." General Stewart enquired "What justification is there for 
all this? Douglas replied, "Tbeie is no justification nor any pretence of any. 
If they will remain in the Union I will go as far as the Constitution will per- 
mit to maintain their just rights, and I do not doubt but a majority of Congress 
will do the same. But," said he, rising on his feet and extending his arm, "if 
the southern States attempt to secede from this Union without further cause, I 
am in favor of their having just so many slaves, and just so much slave terri- 
tory, as they can hold at the point of the bayonet and no morcy 

On the 4th of March thereafter, surrounded by spies and traitors, the treasu- 
ry robbed, the army and navy dispersed, knowing scarcely who to trust, the 
President took possession of the White House, and entered upon his duties. 
0" one side the Capitol was Virginia, with her disloyal militia guarding the 



12 

Long Bridge, ripe for revolt, and ready from the heights of Arlington and the 
Potomac to bombard the Capitol. Between it and the loyal States lay Mary- 
land, ready to rise m arms the moment the rebel flag was unfurled; nay, not 
vaiting fjr this, but rising and burning bridges, tearing up rail-ways, and mur- 
dering Union soldiers on iheir way to defend Washington. The seat of Gov- 
ernment was thus isolated in the midst of a hostile people. Congress had 
adjourned, and the fate of the nation and of liberty rested upon the President. 
He was equal to the occasion. He was wise as he was firm. He saved the 
capital and he preserved the nation. Contrast the condition of our country 
then and now, with more than half the territory then, in rebellion reclaimed, 
and deny if you can that Abraham Lincoln has high administrative powers. 
It has been well said of him in view of his administration, remembering the 
past and looking to the future, "the people know the necessities of the hour 
and appreciate the man who is at the helm. They trust him. * * * By 
masterly action and by masterly inaction, this sage and heio from the back- 
woods has commanded the entire confidei^ce of a great people; of a people the 
most intellectual and forcible upon earth." 

It is not ray purpose to speak in detail of the acts of this administration. 
There are a few general considerations in regard to it, to which I ask the can- 
did consideration of the country. 

First, our foreign relations, few will deny, have been managed with ability 
and success through a period of extieme difficulty and danger. Whatever 
exception and criticism may justly be made upon particular dispat(;hes, the 
result has been peace, and non-intervention, and thus far, the country is satis- 
fied that a cool, wise and sagacious head is at the helm. The government has 
been so administered as to secure the substantial union and harmony of the 
loyal people of all parties. This has been done amidst all the passionate 
excitement and turbilant feeling grov.'ing out of civil war. It has been accom- 
plished, during a period in which the Piesident has necessarily exercised the 
extraordinary power of summary arrests, suspension of the Habeas Corpus, and 
the suppression of disloyal and treasonable publications by military power; all 
of them acts which could not but receive the most searching scrutiny, of a 
people like ours, so jealous of their liberties. Yet the great mass of the people 
have felt perfect confidence in the integrity and patriotism and prudence of the 
Executive, and rested easy, with the full faith that he. would exercise those high 
powers only to secure the life of the nation. Who, of all our statesmen could 
have exercised these extraordinary pOwers, and created so little uneasiness and 
distrust? However others have doubted and hesitated, Mr. Lincoln's faith in 
the success of our cause has never been shaken. He has been radical in all 
that concerns slavery, and conservative in all that relates to liberty. 

His course upon the slavery question has shown his love of freedom, his 
sagacity and his wisdom. From the beginning he has believed that the rebel- 
lion would dig the grave of slavery. He has allowed the suicide of slaveiy 
to be consummated by the slave-holders themselves, iMany have blamed him 
for going too fast in his anti-slavery measures, more, I think, have blamed him 
for going too slow, of which I have been one. History will perhaps give hira 
credit for acting with great and wise discretion. The calm, intelligent, philo- 
sophic abolitionists of the old world, uninfluenced by the passions which sur- 
round and color our judgments, send across the ocean congratulation and 
admiration on the success and wisdom of his course. The three leading fea- 
tures of his administration on the subject of slavery are : 

1. Ilis proclamation of emancipaton. 

2. The employment of negroes as soldiers. 



13 

3. The amnesty proclamation ; making liberty tLc corner-stone of recon- 
struction. 

The Emancipation proclamation will live in history as one of those great 
events which measure the advance of the world. The historian will rank it 
alonw side with the acquisition of magna charta and the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. This o-i-eat State paper was issued afier the most careful aud anxious 
retleclion, and concludes with these solemn words: "And upon this act, sin- 
cerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution and mili- 
tary necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of laankind and the gracious 
favor of Almighty God." 

The considerate judgment of mankind, on both sides of the ocean, have al- 
ready approved it, and God has seemed to favor it with a series of victories to 
our aims never witnessed before its issue — a series of victories, for which we are 
n)orc indebted to the President than to any other man. 

The country will not forget the tenacious adherence of the President to 
Grant, when nearly all seemed to desert him. True, this trait in his character, 
this pertinacious adherence to tliose, he trusts was, I think, carried too far in 
the lung continuance in the service of the hero of the Chichahominy. The 
President could not convert the hero of the Chickahomin)^ into the hero of the 
Mississippi; but this same characteristic, if it resulted in many reverses to the 
Army of the Potomac, has given us Yicksburgh and Lookout Mountain, and 
will I trust, ere long, secure our complete triumph over the rebel aimies. 

But to return to the proclamation. It has been objected to this proclamation, 
that it did not embrace all the territory in rebellion. For myself, I have al- 
ways regretted that it did not include all the States in revolt. But I believe 
the truth is, this was the result of the advice of the loyal men of the border 
States. For instance, I believe that the man most influential in preventing the 
great State of Tennessee from being designated in this paper was the patriot 
aud statesman, Andrew Johnson ; and I believe to-day he regrets more than 
any other man that it was left out. Yet, who will blame the President for lis- 
tening wiih deference to the advice of Andrew Johnson in regard to Tennessee? 

The employment of negro soldiers needs to-day no vindication. All sanction 
aud approve it, and they themselves are gallantly fighting their way to the 
favor of the country. 

The amnesty proclamation, although assailed by essayists and politicians, is 
working out practically its own vindication. Hundreds of rebel soldiers are 
daily bringing in, and laying down their arms. In the west it is dissolving the 
rebel amiits. Under its influence, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas, will 
soon return as free States. The day that sees these States again in the Union 
as free, loyal States, will see the beginning of the end of this rebellion. LToder 
the influence of this proclamation, with such changes as experience may suggest, 
or as Congress may establish, or sanction, we may hope to see the rebel territory 
all restored, and our great country redeemed from the curse of slavery. 

Our duty as a loyal people emay be expressed in four words, for three of 
which I have to thank my friend from Maine [Mr. Pxke.] Wc must unite, 
fight ^ tax, and emancipate. 

But let us not disguise from ourselves that the coming year is one full of peril. 
The danger is not all in the direction from which it is most apprehended. 

A nation without a government is, as Alexander Uamilton said, *' aji 
awful spectacle^'' 

There are dangerous elements in our midst, and a presidential election in the 
midst of a civil war, will try the capacity of the people for self-government as 
they have never been tried before. We are in the midst of rushing toi rents ot 
opinion and passion dangerous and difficult to control. "We are tossing on the 



u 

billows of a raging sea. Anxious friends of liberty are everywbere asking, will 
tbe great Amencan republic strand for want of order and rule? 

Confidence in our success has been continaally increasing. Is it wise to 
change our leader in the mist of this storm, and while all the world is admir- 
ing the honesty, the justice, the fidelity, and the wisdom of that leader ? No, 
rather let us give no indications of weakness or division among ourselves, bi* 
uniting, all, for our country and for liberty, let us rally around the pilot who 
has thus far guided us in safety. _ ^^ 

In response to the cry that comes from the rebels at Richmond, ' any- 
body but Lincoln," let us reply, " nobody but Lincoln !" until liberty triumphs, 
and national unity is restored. 



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